A spin-out company from University College Galway, now a global player in the oil and gas industry, is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.

Galway-headquartered MCS is a 20 million euro sub-sea engineering company with almost 200 employees operating from its network of offices in Aberdeen, Houston, Rio de Janeiro, Perth (Australia), Paris and Kuala Lumpur. Having already doubled in size since 2005, the company is aiming to double again by 2010, bringing staff numbers to 400.

Like the sub-sea oil and gas sector which has grown dramatically from its pioneering beginnings in the North Sea, MCS has morphed from a small provider of advanced analytical services and developer of engineering software to a world leader in delivering solutions to the complex challenges of producing oil and gas in increasingly deeper waters.

"Right from the start we worked on an international stage," says John Conroy, chief executive officer of MCS. "The world demanded our capability even though there was no local basis in Ireland for that capability and so we have always had to think global."

MCS was founded in September 1983. The first employees were John Conroy and Michael Lane, who both graduated from University College Galway in 1980, where they completed their postgraduate research in mechanical engineering.

The company has retained strong links with NUIG as well as building relationships with other Irish universities with the aim of recruiting talented graduates. MCS' Galway office has nearly doubled in the last 12 months and 70 per cent of the new hires have been Irish graduates.

Throughout the eighties the company developed advanced engineering algorithms for analysing sub-sea riser systems, developing and selling riser engineering software. Its best-known software product, Flexcom, is used throughout the industry internationally and has been used to design a significant number, if not the majority, of riser systems around the world today.

According to Conroy: "Today our software division continues to lead the way in revolutionary tools that meet the demanding requirements of complex sub-sea operations in challenging environments. We have broadened our suite of products that provide tangible benefits such as reducing risk and costs and optimising operational up-time for oil and gas producers."

The management buy-out in 1999 by John Conroy, Patrick O'Brien, Kieran Kavanagh and Frank Grealish paved the way for the transformation of MCS into a highly successful international company based on its core values of technical excellence and integrity.

Recent awards have formally recognised MCS' technical excellence. The Innovative Exporter Award 2007 was presented to MCS by the Irish Exporters Association and at the Information Technology Association Galway Industry Awards, Robert O'Grady of MCS won Young IT Practitioner of the Year. Conroy concluded: "Our proactive, fast moving approach to entering new markets, as evidenced by the short time it took to set up each office and secure local business reflects the maturity, ambition and international reputation of the company.

"We are probably one of the only businesses in Galway to offer such exciting international opportunities for young people in a fast-paced high-tech industry. We are managing to combine experience, technical and analytical skills with practical knowledge as well as youth, innovation and enthusiasm. In terms of our workforce, we are bucking the trend with 60 per cent in the 21 to 30 age bracket. This is great for our long-term future," he added.

Comments (0) »

Show/Hide comment form

Name

Email

Title

Comment

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment